Night Ride Home - Mitchell, Joni (CD 1991)

The Artist No longer is she the fresh-faced kid dwarfed by her guitar on the Woodstock stage; that was thirty years ago, you know. No longer is that velvet voice tinged with girlish tones so evident in Ladies of the Canyon or Court and Spark; it's grown somehow harder, with a sharper edge (perhaps decades of smoking is taking its toll?). No longer are her lyrics the innocence of "Chelsea Morning" and "Big Yellow Taxi" or the frivolity of "Twisted"; they've begun to take on an air of cynicism and perhaps just a trace of world-weary sorrow. But a beauty remains: The words. The voice. The woman..

I have always said: If I could be anyone but me, I'd be Joni Mitchell. To me, she is as close to complete musical, lyrical, artistic expression perfection as exists in my little world, anyway. I own more Joni Mitchell CDs than any other artist. I have no clue why I have chosen "Night Ride Home" as my first epinion on her prolific and astounding career. But here we are. As goofy as it may sound as a reason, there is not a song on this compilation that I don't like. Ever since "Hissing of Summer Lawns", it seems there was always at least one, if not a few, songs that I tolerated just to get to..